China's delivery services hit full throttle for festival shopping boom

BEIJING — When Wang Lijun returned to his hometown in Hebei province for Spring Festival this year, he didn't carry the usual load of holiday goods, as his New Year purchases — juicy navel oranges from Jiangxi province and fresh vegetables from the northeast — had already arrived at his doorstep via express delivery.

"Returning home for Spring Festival used to be physically exhausting, but now it's a breeze," said the 50-year-old, who spent eight months building cliff-side roads deep in the Taihang Mountains.

Wang's shipments were just a fraction of the billions of parcels crisscrossing China as people shop for gourmet treats, festive goods and gifts for Chinese New Year, which fell on Jan 29 this year. With e-commerce now an integral part of daily life, the holiday season has become one of the busiest times for the country's delivery network.

At Sanya Phoenix International Airport, a major hub in China's tropical island province of Hainan, shipments of mangoes, dragon fruit and coconuts are flown across the country to eager holiday shoppers.

"Over 70 percent of the air-shipped parcels are fruits, and during peak times, more than 70 tons are dispatched daily," said Zhao He from the YTO Express branch at the airport. Even in snow-covered northeastern regions, deliveries can arrive in as little as 24 hours.

Data from JD.com, a leading e-commerce platform, showed that Chinese consumers are enjoying a greater variety of specialties from across the country for the festival. For instance, sales of local products from Shanghai have surged 277 percent year-on-year in the inland Qinghai province on the platform.

Driven by the holiday shopping frenzy, China's express delivery network has been operating at high capacity since the beginning of this year, said the State Post Bureau.

During the first three days of the Spring Festival travel rush, which kicked off in mid-January, the daily average volume of express deliveries handled nationwide exceeded 670 million units, a 29 percent jump from the same period in 2024, the bureau said.

Festive shopping gained momentum as China tapped into its growing domestic consumption potential, driven by the rise of online retail and the rapid expansion of its delivery network. In 2024, the country's courier sector handled 174.5 billion parcels, with 974 million consumers shopping online by year-end.

In the distribution center of Yunda Express in Shanghai, pre-holiday deliveries were in full swing. To handle the surge in parcels, the company had activated all of its smart sorting lines in the center, expanded its fleet of vehicles and upgraded the equipment.

"We are also considering hiring more temporary workers to meet business demand," said Yang Shuai, who is in charge of the center.

Logistics companies faced further challenges as many delivery workers, like all fellow Chinese consumers, returned to their hometowns for the holiday, leading to a seasonal manpower shortage.

Ye Wenhui, manager of ZTO Express' Fengxian branch in Shanghai, said only 30 percent of couriers in the branch stayed on their post during the extended break.

To boost staffing, couriers are paid three times their usual pay during the holiday, with bonuses that guarantee daily incomes of 400 to 600 yuan ($56-84) for delivering 200 to 300 packages. They'll also be able to take time off once their colleagues return.

Ye said that innovative solutions have been put in place to address the staff shortage, such as setting up unattended pickup stations and adding delivery lockers to courier stores.

Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, further alleviated labor shortages by deploying unmanned delivery vehicles.

These automated systems can handle the most labor-intensive transportation tasks, allowing on-site workers to focus on sorting and last-mile deliveries. A dedicated operation team had been established to ensure smooth functionality of unmanned vehicles during the holiday period.

According to a Cainiao delivery manager in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, this year, six unmanned vehicles handled the transportation work, allowing 60 percent of the staff to enjoy their holiday, significantly higher than about 30 percent in past years.

Wang Lei, manager of a YTO Express branch in Shanghai's Xuhui district, said that there was a decline in delivery volumes at the start of the holiday. "But it will surge afterward as people ship local specialties back to metropolitan cities like Shanghai where they reside and work."

Xinhua